Higher Maths 2018-19

Hey, starting this thread for everyone doing higher maths. :smile:

How's it going for everyone? Struggling with anything or is it nice and easy?

p.s good luck to anyone reading this during exams or prelims!

UNOFFICIAL MARKING SCHEME :smile:

Exam Paper 1 here and Paper 2 :smile:

(edited 4 years ago)

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Reply 1

username3779536

Hey!

So far I've found the Higher Maths course to be far more interesting and enjoyable in comparison to the N5 course :biggrin:

We're currently working through the Trig Section - although we've been told that there's a test in the next couple of weeks :grumble:

Reply 2

BruisedBroccoli

Original post by WestDragon

Hey!

So far I've found the Higher Maths course to be far more interesting and enjoyable in comparison to the N5 course :biggrin:

We're currently working through the Trig Section - although we've been told that there's a test in the next couple of weeks :grumble:

That's great that you're enjoying higher, how is the trig section? We've been doing straight lines since we came back and I'm not totally lost yet :cute:

so I'm guessing the rest of the course will be hard...

Also, good luck for your test when it comes!

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 3

Paintbrush33

I am struggling so much! Maths has always been one of my better subjects but higher is such a leap from Nat 5. I don’t have a very good teacher either

Reply 4

username3779536

Original post by LeastWolf

That's great that you're enjoying higher, how is the trig section? We've been doing straight lines since we came back and I'm not totally lost yet :cute:

so I'm guessing the rest of the course will be really hard...

Also, good luck for your test when it comes!

We completed the Straight Line Section before summer and did a short recap on it, I agree with it being a good section to start off with :smile:

In Trig we've covered the compound angle formulae, along with the double-angle formulae. It can take some time to get your head around but once you've got it it's quite nice for solving questions as Trig Identities get involved :biggrin:

I do think that although it's quite a jump, if we make time to practise the new content and ask for help when necessary it shouldn't be too bad!
p.s. thanks!

Original post by Paintbrush33

I am struggling so much! Maths has always been one of my better subjects but higher is such a leap from Nat 5. I don’t have a very good teacher either

Having a sub-par teacher never helps but I'd definitely recommend using a site called highermathematics.co.uk - it's got some useful theory guides and tons of practise questions for around £10 :wink:

(or watching youtube videos of people teaching the maths area) I do hope that your teacher isn't too bad, or if there are other teachers that you could seek extra help from?

Reply 5

noodles99

I am finding this course super hard compared to nat 5 even though it used to be one of my best subjects and i have a great teacher. We started on straight line and i was okay with most of that but we did quadratics after and i remember NOTHING. We have also done circles which are fine ish, functions and graph are impossible and we are starting differentiation which so far is also impossible. Wish i had listened to everyone who told me not to take it lol

Reply 6

Ellie040902

I am finding higher maths interesting and not too difficult so far, we started the course in January 2018 even though none of us had even sat the National 5 exam yet my class finished the national 5 course very quickly and were just revising for the exam so the teacher decided to start teaching us the higher course. Up till now we have done straight line, recurrence relations, functions and graphs, differentiation, polynomials and quadratics. Most of these topics are okay but the functions and graphs is the most difficult for me. I have my unit 1 test on Wednesday and although I feel confident in the topics I am starting to worry as I haven’t studied for it yet at all. I always leave things to the last minute😭 good luck to everyone doing higher this year :smile:

Reply 7

Jan22xxxxx

I have always found maths difficult, not my strongest point at all. In higher we have covered straight line, vectors, functions and graphs of functions. I got a B on my test, although i literally scrapped it:\ Honestly, all i want in life is to be good at maths, it's SOOOOOOOO annoying

Reply 8

keitlenchips

I’m currently strongly hating higher maths 😭I’m good at it, don’t get me wrong but the content is garbage and my teacher is so,,,, ehhh. My old National 5 teacher has also told me ‘not to complain because I know I’m going to get everything right anyways’ so I’m currently against my schools maths department.

I miss National 5 so much. Higher maths is making me reconsider if I want to study maths at uni

Reply 9

username3881192

Honestly want to die. Who knew that a subject could suck the life out of you?
My teacher thinks I'm an idiot and actively avoids my questions and first day I asked what a function was (he laughed rather than explained) and now everytime we do something function related (so basically everything) he looks at me and laughs and makes jokes....!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish I hadn't bothered.

Reply 10

fucthesqa

Hi everyone.

Just did my prelim quite sad it was horrible but I'm going to start revising now until the final exams for all my subject so I think it should be fine.
Higher maths is quite difficult, big jump up from nat5.
Hate graphs

Reply 11

Labrador99

Volunteer Team

Original post by fucthesqa

With practice, you can improve a lot in the time between prelims and the final exams, so don't be disheartened that your prelim didn't go as well as you hoped! Sounds like you're willing to learn from it and then work for it though, which is a good attitude to have :smile:

Reply 12

High_voltage

Dont worry about it too much I recommend Scholar, bitesize and the higher maths leckie leckie textbook the stuff that gave me issues were trigonometry, functions and graphs, and exponential stuff. But keep working hard on them and everything will change. I had no hope but went home and put so much effort into that stuff came out with 44/47 in the unit test and passed the prelim. Also some parts are nice and easy like polynomials, differentiation and integration.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 13

High_voltage

Higher isn’t there to test the teacher, dont get me wrong a good teacher helps but the work you put in is what u get out. I struggled with higher at the start and now im coping so well with it. Certain topics are better than others but study, use loads of resources, practice as much as possible. Here to help anyone.

Reply 14

High_voltage

Original post by SCHOLARuk

Thanks for the recommendation High_voltage! Don't forget that we run Online Tutor Sessions for Higher Maths which may be useful. They are available even if you don't have your SCHOLAR username/password. The schedule/recordings are at https://scholar.hw.ac.uk/sessions.html

Only speaking the truth! scholar was a life saver for me during the first unit, i almost dropped it until i used the site and it broke everything down and make it simple for me. Im not gaining top marks and performing so well in maths! Thank you!

Reply 15

Ax-MGcxx

I really need a B this year but I’m struggling with the recent papers any suggestions... think I’ve left it too late now with only 29 days to go :frown:

Reply 16

Labrador99

Volunteer Team

Original post by Ax-MGcxx

I really need a B this year but I’m struggling with the recent papers any suggestions... think I’ve left it too late now with only 29 days to go :frown:

First, don't give up, it isn't too late! Have you went through the course and identified areas which you are good with, and ones you're not sure about? If not, I found using a red, amber green type system for each topic helped focus my revision. That way, you can try and ensure you use what time you do have most efficiently. The https://www.highermathematics.co.uk/ website has some really good resources including guides and questions that are arranged topic by topic, allowing you to focus on the areas you're not sure of. When you get a past paper question wrong, I'd look at the DLB maths worked solutions videos on YouTube, as he usually explains them quite well and it can help if you're just not sure where you went wrong.
There's also people here on TSR who can help, so if you get stuck, the people in the Maths Forum are great at helping you to figure it out without giving you the answer (better for you in the long run!) and are always happy to help!
Hopefully this helps a bit- you can do it! :smile:

Reply 17

AyrshireStudent

I'm absolutely hating Higher Maths has to be my worst Higher.

Reply 18

123543

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can provide advice about how to get an A in the Higher Maths exam. I got a low B in the prelim and haven't really got much higher than a B3 in past papers. I feel I struggle most with the graph stuff and the circle.

Thanks so much in advance.